Document
34
Denunciations
from Walecki to Ezhov
TO C. EZHOV.
Enclosed
are my notes about certain facts concerning the following individuals:
1. Melnikov[i]
2. Hanecki[ii]
3. Natanski (Bresler)
4. Wasilkowski[iii]
5. Brikke[iv]
6. Münzenberg
7. Raskolnikov[v]
8. Karakhan.[vi]
18. V. 1937
Walecki.
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About
Melnikov. Several months ago, I informed the Polish
section of the Comintern (c. Bronkowski) that Wasilkowski (currently the
ed[itor] in ch[ief] of the [newspaper] “Za Industrializatsiiu,” [and] a Polish
Komsomol member until 1928) was an active Bukharinist in December 1928,. The
Polish section passed it on to the CC, which initiated an inquiry on
Wasilkowski. Since then, I have never talked about Wasilkowski to anyone. In
April of t[hat] y[ear], during the party meeting, Melnikov approached me during
the break and asked: “You have some material on Wasilkowski. Could you give
[it] to me [?]” Without giving a direct answer, I asked Melnikov, on whose
behalf was he asking me, and why me specifically. M[elnikov] replied
incomprehensibly that [he was asking] supposedly on behalf of a certain “party
organization” (later I learned that the Comintern party committee never gave him
such a task). However, he did not insist and backed off.
Now,
remembering this incident, I think that the active interest that M[elnikov]
expressed toward the Wasilkowski case merits attention.
18. V. 37.
Walecki.
EG.3.
26.VI.
37.
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About Hanecki.
1)
In late December 1923 (or early January 1924), at the Polpredstvo[vii]
[party] cell meeting in Berlin which I attended, Hanecki (who was on a trip
abroad at that time) gave a passionate speech in defense of Trotsky and
against the CC.
2)
H[anecki] has a number of more than suspicious relatives in Poland, with whom
he maintains the closest relations. In particular, his nephew (sister’s son)
named Gridiger is a professional spy in the service of the Polish
General Staff’s II Department. In 1923-24 (?), a trial took place in Warsaw of
a group of our intelligence agents who had
made contact with the Polish spies, Lieutenant Skrudlik and Gridiger,
who had been assigned for that purpose, with provocatorial intent, by the
Polish General Staff’s II Department. Meanwhile, Gridiger and some other Polish
spy, who sneaked into Smolensk, were exposed and arrested by our organs.
Gridiger’s partner was shot, while G[ridiger], after declaring that he had an
uncle Hanecki, was transferred to Moscow. Here he had a meeting with Hanecki;
he promised to work for us, was released and went back to Poland, where he
continued to work for the General Staff’s II Department.
3)
In the whole biography of Hanecki, there are a number of particular
points requiring investigation.
I
remembered all this after learning that H[anecki] was elected a regional
[party] committee member at the recent conference.
Walecki.
18. V. 37.
EG.3
26.
VI. 37.
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About
Natanski (real name – Bresler).
Natanski,
a VKP(b) member, transferred from the CP of Poland (or CP of Germany?) about 10
years ago. Before 1935, he worked on a secret job at the Admin[istration] of
the Civ[il] Air Fleet, then – in Glavlit,[viii]
and now is supposedly being sent to conduct Glavlit work in Ukraine.
In
1922, N[atanski] lived in Berlin on a legal
Polish passport and worked at the Trade delegation. At that time, the trial
against the Com[munist] Party of Western Ukraine (the so-called “St. Juri”
trial) was being prepared in Lvov. The chief provocateur at this trial was a
certain Spiegel. Our [organs] managed to lure him to Berlin, where one of the
embassy workers (either from the GPU or Razvedupr, I do not know) got certain
information from Spiegel and, as a “proof” of his sincerity, Spiegel’s
Defenziva[ix]
agent badge (or medal). The party decided to pass this material evidence to the
defense attorney at the trial, in order to unmask the provocateur in open
court. However, the defense attorney remarked that he would have to tell the
court, from where he got that spy ID. Then our [people] in Berlin told him to
mention Bresler (currently Natanski) who lived in Berlin legally on a Polish
passport, and to whom Spiegel came to offer his services against the Polish
okhranka.[x] Due to the
rush, it could not be “agreed to” with Bresler himself (the messenger could not
wait), and Bresler was informed after the fact. Bresler protested against such
“arbitrariness” by the party that compromised his legal cover, and [he] ranted
and raved. A couple of weeks later, the editorial board of the PPS's newspaper
“Robotnik” contacted our comrades in Warsaw and informed them that it had
received by mail a letter from Berlin, from some Bresler, who was protesting
against an attempt to point to him as the person who had passed on Spiegel’s
spy ID to the attorney, since he, Bresler, had never before seen Spiegel, etc.
The “Robotnik” editorial board considered it inappropriate to publish such a
letter stabbing a defense attorney at a political trial in the back, and passed
that letter on to our [people]. When asked about this letter, Bresler confessed
that he had written it and explained this step as a natural reaction to the
party’s “arbitrariness” and abuse of his name.
Some
time ago, B[resler] showed up in Moscow, raised the question of his transfer to
the VKP(b), and asked me for a recommendation. I refused him, referring to the
case of his letter to the “Robotnik.”
I
do not know how, but he still managed to sneak into the party and [later]
worked top secret jobs. B[resler]’s biography contains some dark spots, even
before his arrival in Berlin.
Walecki.
18. V. 37.
EG.
3
26. VI. 37
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About
Wasilkowski.
I
met Wasilkowski in the summer of 1928, during the VI Comintern Congress. He was
a rabid Polish factionalist (he had just come from Poland after spending
several years in prison on a Komsomol case).
W[asilkowski]
was planning to return to underground work in Poland. In December 1928, in a
conversation with me, W[asilkowski] took a radical Bukharinist position against
the CC VKP(b). At the end of an agitated argument, I told him: “So you are
planning to go to Poland to create rightist groups there?” W[asilkowski]
answered: “Rightist – no, Bukharinist – yes.” I told him then and there that I
would inform the Polish section about this. I immediately made this declaration
to the Representative of the CP of Poland, c. Purman,[xi]
and W[asilkowski] was removed from the list of those to be sent abroad.
Soon
after that W[asilkowski] got a position on the “Pravda” editorial board.[xii]
Walecki.
18. V. 37.
EG. 3
26. VI. 37.
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About
Brikke.
I
have known Brikke for a long time from his work in the Comintern. In 1923-24,
he was [a member of] the Trotskyist opposition and was rather active.
His
position in the fall of 1927 is of a crucial importance. It was in November, on
the eve of the XV party congress.[xiii]
In conversations with many comrades that took place in his room in the [Hotel] “Lux,” B[rikke] harshly
attacked the CC, in particular Trotsky and Zinoviev’s expulsion from the party,
and expressed the conviction that, when the delegates who were supposedly on
their way came together, the situation would be cleared up, [and] the CC would
have to change [its] course.
These
pronouncements by B[rikke] were very much influenced by his clashes with …..,[xiv]
who at that time was the Secretary of the West[ern] Siberian Krai committee,
where Br[ikke] worked temporarily as a Kraikom instructor. It is possible that
the later unmasking of …..,[xv]
an obsessed right opportunist who was talking incessantly about forming a bloc
with the leftists, made B[rikke] think that he was right in his struggle with
…..[xvi](from
the Trotskyist position), and to conceal his Trotskyist activity of
1923-1927. In subsequent years, I hardly
ever met B[rikke] and I do not know when and how he abandoned Trotskyism. I do
not know if the party is aware of the many years of B[rikke]’s Trotskyist
activity and vacillations.
In
1927, B[rikke] was in close contact with Varia Kasparova.[xvii]
Walecki.
18. V. 37.
EG. 3
26. VI. 37.
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About
Münzenberg.
In
1917-1918, Münzenberg was in prison in Switzerland (I think, the only time
in his life). He used his free time to write a diary-memoir, and wrote quite
openly about [his] underground work during the war, mentioning specific people,
etc. This diary “ended up in the hands” of the Swiss authorities and was used
by them accordingly. M[ünzenberg] explained this by his inexperience and
thoughtlessness.
Walecki.
18. V. 1937.
EG. 3
26. VI. 37.
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About
Raskolnikov.
Recalling
my meetings with R[askolnikov] in 1925-1927 (in 1925-26, he worked in the
Comintern as an editor under the name of Petrov, in 1927-28, it seems to me, he
was an editor of “Novy Mir,” but continued to live in the “Lux” until his
appointment as the Ambassador in Revel [Estonia]), I came to the conclusion, on
the basis of different hints, anecdotes, etc., that R[askolnikov] was at that
time an active Trotskyist and already a double-dealer. I am not an expert in
literary currents, but I remember that his literary entourage (he was a
napostovets[xviii])
consisted of people who now have been exposed as enemies and long-time
double-dealers.
Walecki.
V.
37.
EG.
3
26. VI. 37.
<<page
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About
Karakhan.
On
10 May 1937, I gave a lecture on the international situation to the activists
in Factory No. 32. Among the questions submitted in writing was the question:
“Why did they change the Ambassador to
Turkey?” [i.e. Karakhan] I
enclose the original note.X It
is important to locate the author of this note and to find out the motives for
his odd interest in the changing of the Ambassador to Turkey.
Walecki.
18.
V. 37.
X/
The original is being sent to you directly by the Mosc[ow] Com[mit]tee.
EG.
3
26.
VI. 37.
RGASPI, f. 495, op. 252, d. 510, ll.
1-10.
Original in Russian.
Handwritten. Walecki’s original
handwritten notes addressed to Ezhov were typed in the ECCI Cadres Department
and sent to Ezhov by Belov (the head of the Department) on 26 June 1937. Copies
of these notes were placed in the personal files of the people mentioned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] Boris Nikolaevich Melnikov (Mueller) (1895-1938). A member of the RSDRP(b) from 1916. In 1917, he graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. He later became the head of a military garrison, a member of the Far Eastern Military Council, and a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front. In 1923-1924, he was in China. In 1924-1928, he was a department head in the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. In 1928-1931, he was the General Counsel in Kharbin; in 1931, chargé d’affaires in Japan. In 1932-1933, he was the deputy head of the Intelligence Department of RKKA. Between 1933-1934, he was the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs’ representative in the Far East. After October 1935, he was the head of Communications for the ECCI Secretariat. In May 1937, he was arrested and sentenced to execution on 25 November 1937. He was shot on 28 July 1938.
[ii] Jakób Hanecki (real name – Fürstenberg) (1879-1937). A longstanding participant in the Russian and Polish Socialist Democratic movements and a delegate to the 2nd, 4th and 5th RSDRP congresses. A member of the CC RSDRP from 1907, and a member of the General Directorate of the SDPKPiL. After 1917, he worked in the People’s Commissariat for Finance of the RSFSR. In 1923-1929, he was a member of the Collegium of the Commissariat for Trade. After 1929, he occupied prominent positions in the USSR state apparatus. Arrested on 26 November 1937, he was sentenced to be shot by the Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court.
[iii] Henryk Wasilkowski (1903-1938). He went to Russia from Poland in 1921 and joined the Russian Komsomol. In 1922-1923, he was the editor of the Komsomol newspaper, Yunosheskaia Pravda. In 1928, he left to conduct underground work in Poland; he was elected member of the CC YCL Poland and a secretary of the Lodzinsk and Dombrowski regional committees. He was imprisoned in 1925-1928. In 1928, he returned to the USSR, where he worked on the newspaper, Komsomolskaia Pravda, and was the head of the Economics Department of Pravda. After 1935, he was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Za industrializatsiiu. Arrested on 19 February 1938. the Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court sentenced him to be shot.
[iv] Semyon Karlovoch Brikke. Born in 1898 in Kishinev. A member of Poalei Zion in 1916-1918, and of the RKP(b) from 1918. In 1918-1919, he served in the Red Army. Between 1919-1920, he conducted underground work in Tiraspol. He worked in the ECCI in 1922-1926. In 1923-1924, he headed the ECCI’s Eastern Department. Later, he worked in the Moscow party committee and VKP's CC. After 1934, he served on the Party Control Commission of the CC VKP(b). He was arrested on 30 April 1937, and on 29 October, sentenced to be shot by the Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court.
[v] Fyodor Fyodorovich Raskolnikov (1892-1939). A member of the RSDRP(b) from 1910. After the February 1917 revolution, he was elected the deputy Chairman of the Kronstadt Soviet. In 1918, he was the Deputy People’s Commissar for the Navy. In 1919, he was the Commander of the Caspian Sea flotilla and in 1920, the Commander of the Baltic Fleet. After the civil war, he did diplomatic work; he was the diplomatic representative to Afghanistan, Estonia, Denmark, Bulgaria. On 17 August 1939, wrote an “Open letter to Stalin,” in which he condemned Stalin for establishing a regime of personal power, violence and terror. He died in Nice.
[vi] Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan (Karakhanian) (1889-1937). A member of the RSDRP(b) from 1917. In October 1917, he was member of the Military Revolutionary Council; then served as secretary of the Soviet delegation at the Brest-Litovsk peace talks. In 1918-1920 and 1927-1934, he was the Deputy People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs. In 1921, he was the Soviet Ambassador to Poland; in 1923-1926, the Ambassador to China; after 1934, the Ambassador to Turkey. Arrested and executed in 1937.
[vii] Polpredstvo (abbr. of Polnomochnoe predstavitelstvo) – Office of the Ambassador. (Trans.)
[viii] Glavlit – Central Directorate for the Literature and Publications of the USSR. This office acted as the state’s main censor in order to prevent publishing the state secrets.
[ix] Defenziva – Polish political police.
[x] Okhranka is a contraction of and was the popular name used to describe Okhrannoe Otdelenie, the police department in the tsarist Russia.
[xi] Leon Purman (Porai) (1892-1933) A member of the CPP from 1918, and a secretary of the Warsaw party organization; after 1924, a member of the CC CPP. In early 1925, he was arrested by the Polish police and sentenced to six years in prison. At the end of 1925, the CC CPP organized his escape from the Paviak prison. After the Fourth CPP Congress (1927), he was the representative of the party in the ECCI. At the Sixth Comintern Congress, he was elected a candidate member of the ECCI and its Presidium. In 1931-1933, he served as the ECCI’s representative to the CP of Spain, where he worked under the name Andres. In late 1933, he committed suicide in Moscow.
[xii] Until April 1929, Bukharin was the Editor of Pravda. In making a point of Wasilkowski’s securing a position on Pravda’s editorial board, Walecki implies that Bukharin was protecting Wasilkowski. Given that Bukharin was under arrest at the time Walecki wrote these notes, this was a very serious implication.
[xiii] The Fifteenth VKP Congress was held on 2-19 December 1927. It adopted the directives to develop the First Five-Year Plan. After discussing the question “On the opposition,” the Congress stressed that the Trotskyist-Zinovievite opposition had broken away from Leninism and had become an instrument of class enemies in their struggle against the party and the Soviet power. Belonging to the opposition and propagandizing its views were declared incompatible with the membership in the party. The congress approved Trotsky’s and Zinoviev’s expulsion from the party and expelled many other members of the opposition.
[xiv] As in the original.
[xv] As in the original.
[xvi] As in the original.
[xvii] Varsenika Dzhavadovna Kasparova (Popova) (??-1963). A member of the Bolshevik Party from 1904. In 1918-1922, she was head of the Housing Department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Later she worked in the Transcaucasian section of the Council of People’s Commissars, and was a Secretary of the Presidium of the Gosplan. Between 1922 and 1928, she worked in the ECCI’s International Secretariat for Women.
[xviii] Napostovtsy – members of the Na postu (“On post”) literary group (1923-1925), which took a negative attitude toward classical literature and any “non-proletarian” art in general. It advocated the hegemony of proletarian literature.